Tonight Show - Peanuts

I'm just taking it by faith that this is funny...

The Tonight Show does a mashup of Riverdale with Peanuts. Now, I've never seen Riverdale and probably never will so I can only assume this is worth sharing. It's certainly carefully made.

Tonight Show - Bachelor Reenactment

For those that missed the high drama that is "The Bachelor", Tariq and Questlove reenact the pivotal scene. Be warned: this is intense.



There's something else I'd like to see. Interspersed with all the scenes in these "reality" shows is always the participants speaking directly to the camera. They could incorporate those as Shakespearean soliloquies. One stands up, gets a spotlight and delivers their lofty dialogue.

In the Air Tonight

I'm not a huge fan of "In the Air Tonight". I've heard it too many times on the radio and find myself mostly bored.

But the key here is that for this performance, Collins was going to be backed up by The Roots and Questlove was extremely nervous about having to play the most famous drum fill of all time. Check out desk chat for Monday and Tuesday to hear him talk about how nervous he was. And to increase the pressure, the show dedicated a camera (or several) specifically to focus on him.

"If you mess that drum fill..."
"I'm done."

So here it is.

Tonight Show - Remembering Prince

Jimmy and Questlove talk about their experiences with Prince.

Rob Burnett on Late Night

Rob Burnett was on Late Night last night. He started as an intern for Letterman in the 80's and worked his way up to the point where he's the head of Worldwide Pants Inc.

When Jimmy first got the job at Late Night, Conan O'Brien gave him a giant, fake pickle. Rob Burnett sheds light on where it came from and what it means as well as debuts long lost footage of Questlove on the Late Show with David Letterman. It's fantastic.

Part1:

Part2:


If I was going to name this blog today, "Comedy Pickle" wouldn't be a bad choice.

VCR Alert: Late Night

Today Jimmy Fallon was a guest on the "Preston and Steve Show", a local radio show (and my favorite podcast). The interview was very good but too short as major celebrities have a million stations to get to and only so much time.

So anyways, at the end of the interview Jimmy promised something that I'd never heard on the radio before: he promised to give the show a shout out on tonight's episode. I'm sure it'll just be a quick mention at the beginning of desk chat but I'm still excited. Of course, if they're doing the "Shout Out" bit, it'll weave naturally into the fabric of the show. One of my favorite TV shows mentions my favorite radio show. Worlds are colliding!

Preston vs. Questlove - The Drum Off

Downton Sixbey Episode 1

As much as "Late Night" with Jimmy Fallon "skews young", the show is actually pretty old fashioned. How old fashioned? Well, a new show about the making of the show allows you to see for yourself. It's called "Downton Sixbey" and it's like nothing else on television at the moment.

Philly Phriction: Fey Vs. Quest

I was unaware of a feud but apparently fellow Philadelphians Tina Fey and Questlove of The Roots have developed either a misunderstanding or a feud or both.

In last night's episode of Late Night, it was time to either squash it or settle it behind the Wawa.

On a personal note, I love Tina Fey's Philly. I could listen to that all day. I wish I could do one. I can do about a million different accents (more or less badly) but I've never been able to do a Philly accent. It's weird.

'Dance Avenue' Out on DVD

Jimmy's excited that the "Soul Train" clone "Dance Avenue" is finally being released on a DVD boxset. Somehow Questlove seems to know everything about music and yet, for some reason, he's never heard of "Dance Avenue". I don't get it. It's weird.

Here's a funky, funky dance down memory lane:

Music Roundup

Thought I'd post a couple recent musical performances that caught my fancy (a bits).

First, this is an increasing trend and I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. There's nothing about this song that's amazing, nothing great, nothing, really, that I can pick out as "above average" and yet I just like it for some reason. It's just wonderfully atmospheric. Listening to it puts me in a specific brain state (a specific feeling of time and place) which is really cool.

Phantogram - Mouthful of Diamonds (note: I wanted to post their Late Night performance with Questlove on drums but that video expired).

This song also holds up after repeated listens. There are a lot of bands out there that are trying to be "retro". There's a whole slew of bands that are "synthy" and trying to recall the 80's style. But this song's on another level. This song successfully sounds exactly like it's FROM the 80's. Take any scene from 80's movie where the "gang" has to fix up an old barn and it's tons of hard work but all the difficulty is made easier by the use of the upbeat montage. Take that scene and play this song over it and it doesn't feel out of place at all. (Edit: Wait, no, it's not the fixing up the barn scene, it's the scene where the guy did something bad to drive the girl away and there's a montage of failed ploys to win her back.)

Chromeo - "Hot Mess"

Seriously, this song has more hooks than a fisherman on vacation.

Can You Feel the Love?

Here's hoping you can...

Remix The Clips

Time once again for another episode of "Remix the Clips". This is one of my favorite editions of this segment. If this song were released... I might buy it.

Remix The Clips #3

Questlove remixes the clips. That "Bachelorette" clip is painful. So glad I don't watch that show.



Apparently this is a new weekly bit so watch for it every Thursday.

A Would-Be Viral Video

As an attempt at a bit, Jimmy Fallon gave Questlove, of Roots fame, a few popular clips from the web and asked him to "remix" them for the show. The "Watch Jimmy With Jimmy" webisode revealed that he was literally given these clips an hour before the show.

Watch the results here:

It's a crime that this is not an actual clip. Rather, it's linked as a "clip" that I made from the hulu video of the entire episode and will therefore be deleted in a few days. So sad. I love it.

It's The ?uestions, It's The ?uestions Y'all.

In this segment, Roots drummer ?uestlove "goes deeper" as is his custom.

[Removed Broken Video Link]

They've done this segment three or four times in the past and it hasn't been great but this one, I thought, was quite good. Don't mess with Texas.

The inspiration for this post's title:

Why do I need I.D. to get I.D.? If I had I.D., I wouldn't need I.D.

Boyz II Men Live

I'm not the most massive fan in the world but I know a fantastic live performance when I see it.

Here's Boyz II Men performing with The Roots "Motownphilly":

[Broken Video Link Removed]

They also did a very cool cover of "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls. You can only see that by within the full episode here.

Bit o' Trivia: You can see Questlove and Black Thought in the original "Motownphilly" music video. Questlove playing the drums and Black Thought is dancing in the background.